The most popular line of “Signs”, a 1971 song by the Five Man Electrical Band, written by Les Emmerson and revived by Tesla twenty years later, read: “If God Was Here, He’d Tell You to Your Face, Man, You’re Some Kinda Sinner”. If I now had to tell for Monday’s Net about some very young Italian tennis player, I would translate it like this, ad sensum: “If the Lord were here, he would tell you to your face, friend, that you are a kind of Sinner”. Instead, the two best Italian under 20s – Federico Bondioli, born in 2005, and Federico Cinà, born in 2007 – are number 586 and 596 respectively in the ATP ranking. I wish them so, but they won’t become Sinners. At Bondioli’s age, Jannik was already firmly among the top hundred in the world. The reduction in the number of prospects (an English term which has now come into common use among those who follow sport: prospect is the athlete who has the potential to become a champion or, at least, to have a successful career) is confirmed by the fact that this This year we will not have Italians at the Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, close to Christmas. It’s too early to worry, but looking ahead and preparing countermeasures is always a good thing.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy the pleasure, never felt in the past, of having on the field in every major tournament an Italian who has been the most highly rated on the circuit for six months. Tonight Sinner finds the opponent he defeated in September in the Flushing Meadows final, Taylor Fritz, just 27 years old, number 5 ATP, fresh from the best season of his career. It’s not an unforgettable match, perhaps because the world number 1 starts out a little tense due to the obligation to beat the Californian. If he didn’t succeed, he would reach the last match of the group, against Daniil Medvedev, with minimal chances of reaching the semi-final. Fritz is calmer. He can afford to lose, because in the third round he will find Alex de Minaur, now eliminated. For almost fifty minutes the balance is perfect, then Jannik accelerates, he has three break opportunities in the eighth game and one, the converted one, in the tenth.
There were also few surprises in the second set, which was however more spectacular, with long rallies and clever pieces. The American suffers from the variations in pace that Sinner uses with growing knowledge and awareness: drop shots, backhand backs, mocking long shots that are more precise than strong. In the tenth set, right on time, the break arrives: 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 40 minutes.
In the afternoon, the spectators at the Inalpi Arena witnessed the miraculous resurrection of Medvedev, who early in the morning was rumored to be ready to withdraw from the tournament. On Sunday the Muscovite was challenged during the match he then lost against Fritz as he was evidently disinterested in competing. Today he hit the Australian de Minaur, giving him only six games (6-2 6-4). How is this possible? Thanks to the material, it would seem: in the press conference, the ATP number 4 said that he had changed something “in the equipment before the match, which is usually not done during a tournament. (…) In the two matches here in Turin I did some tests. The second one worked well.” Is it credible? I have doubts about this even if Daniil added: “Like me, some players are not satisfied with the balls, which are not the same as before Covid. My 2022 (the second year of the pandemic ed.) was terrible. (Due to the different balls) I was forced to replace the strings with softer ones, so I increased the speed. In fact I could no longer place a winner. This year I used others, even softer. On clay and grass it was more difficult to play. Today I changed again and it was ok.” I can’t imagine how many headaches Medvedev’s requests caused the Tecnifibre technicians, who collaborated with the French company to develop his own customized racket, the Dynacore 305, which was then marketed throughout the world in a light version. Someone whispers that he is about to change supplier (after years!), but there is no confirmation.
De Minaur’s analysis seems much more convincing to me: “It happens that you play a bad match because there is tension, nervousness and too many expectations. And it happens that you play well in the next match because you face it without worrying too much.” Like Medvedev, in fact. In short, unsatisfactory balls, soft strings, rackets and everything else have little to do with it.
#Jannik #Sinner #implacable #Medvedev #resurrected
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